The Thing About Death - ON HIATUS
by AoUsagi
Summary: The Shinigami Dispatch Society is still going strong after many hundreds of years - but the balance is upset by the arrival of someone new, someone quite unexpected...
1. Chapter 1

**.:I:.**

The thing about death, William had discovered, is that it had the tendency to get messy. Any number of things could go wrong – someone may not have filed the names properly and the reaper could end up in entirely the wrong place. The reaper on duty may not have sharpened their Death Scythe before heading out – that could make for a messy collection. The soul of the dead person may not want to be collected – William had seen one case too many where the soul had tenaciously fought back before being forced into submission.

But not all deaths had to become chaotic. Some went smoothly and easily; without a single hitch. Souls were reaped, stored, and then a report was filed back at the office. No overtime, no disorder, and everyone could go home in time to get some sleep. Just like that.

God he was hoping that this soul wasn't a fighter.

As he wove his way through the crowd, William couldn't help but feel a tinge of pity for them. They knew so little about the world – to them, everything was so straight forward the they could afford the leisure of going to fancy parties like these. They could dance to music and they could drink wine and eat the disgusting morsels of human food that were scattered on platters over the tables. They didn't have to think of all the other things that went on in the world, like the wars and the tragic deaths of innocent people and natural disasters. They didn't see the big picture. And while the big picture may seem depressing at first, William had often reminded himself that this was simply the way the world worked; people lived, and people died, and life went on. Immortality wasn't a virtue granted to humans – their divinity was so low they hardly counted for anything these days, and yet they built up empires as though they were gods.

Someone bumped into him, drunkenly apologized and stumbled passed him. William let out an irritated intake of breath, glancing only momentarily at the alcohol splatter across his otherwise spotless blazer. Wonderful. Now he was in a hurry_ and_ stinking like a drunk human. And tonight's reaping was already running late as it was. If only Ronald hadn't taken so long in getting ready for duty – _or if only he hadn't spent that precious ten minutes trying to chat up the ladies in reception,_ William sighed inwardly again.

Making his way around a laughing group of party-goers, William slipped into a small hallway just off the main party room. No one had seen him enter and no one had noticed him go. Perhaps the man who'd stumbled into him was wondering why he'd apologized to thin air, but otherwise Will had come and gone as silently as the moths dancing dizzily around the ornately decorated ceiling lights.  
The hallway was darker, without any lights on as a guide through the shadows, but Will didn't need to be able to see to be able to locate the room he was after – the scent of death was heavier now there wasn't any perfume or cologne or alcohol to interfere with his sense of small. He stalked quietly down the hall until he came to the fourth door down, and knocked quietly. Without waiting for an answer, Will twisted open the doorknob and let himself in.

There was an old man settled comfortably in an armchair by the window – anyone else might think he was already dead, but Will saw the slight twitch of the mans eyelids – rapid eye movement gave away the mans dozing state.

'It's time to leave, now,' William said quietly, and it was enough to stir the elderly man. He blinked and shook himself, looking around the darkened room in surprise. The only light was that coming in through the window, where the moon shone down across the old mans lap.

'Hmm, ah –what?' he broke off into a wheezy coughing fit, and Will took a single step closer, without revealing himself in the moonlight.

'It's time,' he repeated, and the old man seemed to focus on him – anyone else would have looked straight through him. But the dying were able to recognize reapers. It wasn't always the case, usually only the elderly could do it. This case didn't surprise Will in the least – the old mans record said that he had passed experiences with ghosts and apparitions, though no one had ever believed his claims.

'Time already?' the old man sighed, readjusting himself in his seat, getting more comfortable. 'But it's not even midnight.' A wise old smile cracked over his aged features. Will guessed that the man would have been quite handsome in his younger years, and even in the dim moonlight he could tell that age hadn't whisked away all the old mans' charm; the smile was still a smile, a genuine one. Without further ado, Will reached into his blazer and pulled a large book, filled with tags and notes scrawled over the pages. He opened it in the flat of his hand, but the pages settled themselves to the exact page he wanted.

'One Mister Sonny Stephenson,' he read aloud. 'Aged eighty-nine. Dies on the seventeenth of December, two thousand and eleven, at ten forty-five pm. Dies peacefully in his sleep, from heart failure. Family do not discover his body until early the next morning, during the clean-up of the party from the night before.'

'Ah, that's soundin' 'bout right,' Mr Stephenson nodded along, coughing a little more. He thumped gently at his chest with one withered old hand. 'Me old ticker's not workin' so well anymore.'

'It would appear so,' William said without emotion. He stowed the book back into his blazer, and Mr Stephenson beckoned him closer.

'Will ya do somethin' for a dyin' man, lad?'

Will watched the old man silently as the man coughed and wheezed again, pounding at his chest again to clear his throat.

'Come closer, lad. Will ya?'

William stepped over the carpeted floor, swerving around the small coffee table that stood in the middle of the grandly furnished room – everything had been restored to look very grand and old fashioned – even the armchair the old man was seated in had been redecorated to suit the surroundings. A stone-cold cup of tea sat on the windowsill beside Mr Stephenson, completely forgotten as the old man leant forward as much as he dared without tipping out of his chair to peer at Will as the reaper stopped in front of him.

'You're one of them reapers, ain't ya, lad?'

'I am,' William replied. Mr Stephenson cracked up laughing, coughing and wheezing in hysterical laughter.

'You're a funny one, you.' He pointed a shaky, wrinkled finger at William. 'You're one of 'em better ones, you are. Got no sense of humour, huh?'

'I assume that's not an entirely bad thing,' William said flippantly, and checked his pocket watch. Even after all these years, it still kept on ticking, keeping the same time as him. Mr Stephenson nodded along, the same laughing smile on his old and decrepit face. This man's time was up, yet he still found enough space for humour. Will would honestly never understand humans. There was simply no end to the ludicrous ways of the mortals. He tried not to think about how much they'd still be laughing if they saw the entirety of the big picture. It would probably shut Mr Stephenson up, though. William sighed and reached back into his blazer.

'Ooh,' Mr Stephenson cooed. 'That's one of 'em Death Scythes, ain't it?'

'It is,' Will drew the compact Scythe from his blazer, and allowed it to extend to it's usual length – it stood, tip to tip, from the floor at Will's feet to bottom of Will's earlobe. Not an overly impressive sight, but old Mr Stephenson seemed to think it was something truly special.

'Caw,' he murmured, leaning back in his armchair contentedly. 'Now ain't that somethin'. A real reaper, with a real Death Scythe, come to take me away.'

'This is just a formality, Mr Stephenson, but your record says that you die in your sleep,' Will said tersely. It was getting late – it was already ten forty-three – the old man hardly had two minutes left. Mr Stephenson nodded.

'That's what you said it does, yes,' he mumbled. 'Think you mind if I –' he yawned before breaking into another coughing fit. When he was calm, he continued. 'If I doze…off a bit…?'

Will waited silently for the old man to nod off, his chin drooping to his chest, before Will stepped back and extended the Death Scythe. The clock on the wall said ten forty-five, and there was a quiet snip through the air, and then a flourish of black and white lit the room. Will opened the old man's record again, and the cinematic record blurred into a life of light and flashes of memories around him, coiling and flowing before settling into the pages of the book in his hands.

Stowing the book away again, Will retracted his Death Scythe and took one final look at the body of Mr Stephenson. He didn't doubt that the man could've been quite the talker, but Will wasn't in the mood for feeble conversation tonight. Then again, he was hardly ever in the mood for conversation, no matter how enlightening. The old man was just as Will had found him – looking as though he was dozing peacefully in his chair. Only this time those who would have guessed the old man looked as dead as he seemed would now be right. With that, William turned and walked away.

The party was still going as before, with people not noticing Will as he passed through their midst; they just continued laughing and talking, completely unaware of the dead man in that well-furbished room just down the hallway.  
It was only when Will had reached the gravel driveway outside, down the stone steps that lead up into the manor house housing the party, when he was interrupted. There was a buzzing in his pocket.

Pulling out the infernal device, his flipped it open, hit the green button, and raised the cell phone to his ear.

'Yes?' he continued walking towards the sleek, black waiting car. There was someone leaning against the car, looking bored.

'Hey boss,' Ronald said, perking up a little as William approached. Will ignored him and answered the voice on the other end of the phone.

'Yes? No, you know where the dictionaries are kept. It's a simple enough word, use your head for once.' He said, opening the passenger door and sliding into the car. Ronald sighed, rolled his eyes, and joined him, taking the driver's seat. 'Hmm? No, I'll be home sometime after twelve. Don't wait up for me.'

He closed the phone and stowed it back into his pocket, before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. Ronald leant on the rim of the steering wheel, watching him.

'So boss,' he started conversationally. 'How'd it go?'

Will took a moment before replying, reaching back for his seatbelt, and Ronald did likewise before turning the key in the ignition and starting the car. It purred into life, the engine not much more than a gentle rumble.

'It was a clean cut, well carried out, and the soul is safely stored,' Will said simply as the car pulled away from the large, restored manor house and onto the street, the dark night lit by passing streetlights. Ronald headed the car out onto the freeway to join the rush of other cars on the multi-lane highway, heading back towards the inner city of London.

'Well that's good,' Ronald said, not sounding particularly enlightened by it. 'At least it's over and done with.'

William reached into the back seat of the car and pulled a slim, silver laptop, opening it in his lap and dimming the brightness as to not distract Ronald from driving – but the younger reaper took notice anyway.

'You filing the report already?' he asked in surprise. 'Can't that wait until we get back to the office? Really?'

'It pays to file a report directly after a reaping, Knox,' Will said sternly, not bothering to glance at his partner, the dim light from the screen casting an unreadable reflection on his glasses.

'Why, boss, you got somewhere to be?' Ronald smile slyly. 'What about that phone call? Someone making you a late dinner or something?'

William shot Ronald a hard glance, and the younger reaper fell silent, fearing the wrath that Will could unleash upon him.

'For your information, that call was private business and none of yours. I am tired, and I am going home once this report is finished.' He said, a steel-hard edge to his voice that made Ronald try to shrink into his own black suit and white shirt collar. The younger Shinigami backed down and focussed on shifting gears and switching lanes.

The car flew over the tarmac and passed other cars, William's fingers flying over the keyboard and tapping away at a furious pace. Ronald took one of the exits that led into deeper into the city, winding along the streets that cut through the spaces between the towering buildings above them, darkened in the night yet illuminated by millions of lights flashing from windows, neon signs and street lights passing them by. William took no notice, but Ronald examined their surroundings lazily. After a moment, the younger reaper sighed and threw his superior a bored glance.

'So.' He began, not even sure that William was going to bothering answering. 'That big function – that's this weekend, yeah? At the convention centre?'

William made a low noise of acknowledgment, not looking up from his work. Ronald rolled his eyes and tried again.

'You going?'

'As a superior officer, it is expected that I attend this function.' Will answered in his usual monotone voice. 'And so will the majority of the active staff.'

'So that means we'll get to see Senpai Adair and Sutcliff again, right?' Ronald asked, perking up a little bit. The two Shinigami in question had been stationed out in Africa for the passed for weeks, and boring old duty with Will was beginning to wear Ronald thin. No more good conversation – not even Senpai Humphries was much good at talking – it was all work, all the time with him when it came to active duty.

'It does indeed,' Will answered, and Ronald smiled, thinking about all the catch up chatter he'd get from Senpai Sutcliff – the redhead was bound to have some good gossip to bring back with him. William glanced at the young blonde as he paused, mid-type. The younger reaper was staring off into the distance, not really registering the cars as they rolled passed. They reached a paved area, inaccessible to larger vehicles, but the sleek black car sailed into the garage and into the underground parking area.

There were only a few other cars parked around – the slam of car doors echoed through the concrete garage as Will and Ronald left the vehicle, Ronald pressing the automatic lock button and the reassuring beep of the car as they strode away from it. Will kept the laptop balanced on one forearm as he typed with the other, his fingers moving deftly over the keys before he clapped the lid of the laptop shut, the light disappearing and leaving them in the dimmer light that crept in through the parking garage windows.

'Report done?' Ronald asked as he loped alongside his elder partner, hands in his pockets. William nodded and tucked the laptop under his arm, his shoulders straight. They reached an elevator set into the concrete wall at the other end of the parking garage, and Ronald pushed the upward flashing red button, and they both stood in silence for a moment as they waited. There was a quiet hiss of air as the doors slid open, and William stepped through, followed by Ronald, before hitting the button on the inside panel. The doors closed, Ronald sighed and leant back against the wall, and the elevator began took off upwards.

'Ronald?'

'Yes, Senpai?' Ronald shifted his weight from one foot to the other, hands in pockets.

'Do stop staring at me.'

There was pause.

'I…wasn't…staring…'

'You were,' Will said tersely, a hard edge to his voice. 'Out of the corner of your eye. If you have a question, just ask it.'

Ronald sighed and allowed his shoulders to slump. Will knew he had caught him out – he hadn't actually been able to see his junior partner watching him, but he'd felt it. Ever since Will had gotten that phone call. The blond had been waiting for some sort of an explanation, but by singling him out, Will was now forcing Ronald to ask. William was fairly sure that he had already successfully predicted the question, and he wasn't prepared to answer.

'Um…okay, boss.' Ronald sighed again, before looking straight at his senior. 'Who was it?'

'Who was who, Ronald?'

'That phone call.'

Just as expected, William sighed internally. After a moment, he formulated a relatively good answer.

'None of your business. Now stop looking at me like that.'

Ronald shrugged and chuckled.

'Sure thing, boss. It's just so unusual for you to get calls like that. At first, I didn't even know that you had a phone. Only really found out after Eric-Senpai redirected one of my calls to your phone.'

'I don't know why I own a phone sometimes, either,' William said irritably, remembering the time when Ronald had been blubbering desperately on the other end of the line into his ear, sobbing something about getting caught in his own zipper. Ronald blushed, obviously remembering the time, too.

'Well, at least you were nice enough to talk me through it,' he said awkwardly, and William rolled his eyes. The only reason he hadn't hung up on the young idiot was because he hadn't been able to find the end call button. That particular problem, however, was quickly resolved after a conversation with Eric, who had been unable to stop laughing as Will explain the situation to him. Several other reapers had risked laughing, until William had glared daggers their way. Only Eric had seemed unfazed. There were times that Will could strangle that reaper for the simple act of not caring.

'Mhmm,' Will muttered, trying to drop the conversation. Ronald go the hint, and they fell silent again as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Both reapers blinked in the sudden brightness of the office-room lights, still on even after many of the other active reapers had left and gone home for the night. They moved like ghosts the hall and into their designated office, William heading straight to one of the filing cabinets as Ronald made a bee-line for the coffee machine.

'Aah, well – I'm beat,' the younger reaper stretched and yawned. 'Soon as I fill in the partner report, I'm headin' home and hitting the sack. You?'

William nodded as he fished through the filing cabinet, in search of a particular manila file. Pulling one out at last, he headed to the printer, pulling a long USB cable from a compartment in the laptop that was still tucked under his arm. He plugged it into the printer, pressed several buttons, and was soon rewarded by three sheets of warm, freshly printed paper shooting out the other end of the machine. He filed them away into the folder, unplugged the USB cable, and returned the file to the cabinet. Ronald was leaning casually against the coffee machine, the brewing machine warming his back.

'Hmm, feels good after a long winter's day,' Ronald sighed happily, letting his head flop back and gazing up at the ceiling, arms folded as William came over to join him, handing him a sheaf of papers that he'd picked up on his way. Ronald groaned loudly and looked down at the partner report Will had given him. It was only a few pages long – but still long enough to keep him from his nice warm bed at home. Even reapers had to sleep.

'As soon as you're done, run off a copy and file them both. I want to see it on my desk first thing tomorrow morning,' William breezed past him and back towards the office door. Ronald looked over his shoulder after him as the coffee machine started to whistle.

'You're not gonna stick around for a coffee?' Ronald called, pouring the steaming water into a cup before stirring in a few spoons of instant ground coffee from the jar beside the brewer. William waved back to him without turning.

'No. Good night, Reaper Knox.'

William made it back to the parking garage in silence before he noticed a different sort of chill in the air. He straightened his blazer on his shoulders and did a quick search of his pockets for his own car keys. Pressing a small button on the key ring, he was rewarded by the beep and flashing of his cars lights, parked a few vehicles down. In truth, all the cars here were Shinigami Dispatch Society property, but each reaper had a designated car to drive on a day-to-day basis while off duty. This building wasn't even within the Shinigami Realm – it was just a normal office building, built for the sole purpose of allowing the London branch of the Dispatch Society to conduct everyday goings on as normal people; dressed just like everyone else out there.

It helped them blend in, was the reasoning that William and the other reapers had been given when the times had changed and had called for the Death Gods to evolve and move with the movement of technology and society. The building acted as a way-point between the real world and the Shinigami Realm – the only place in England where Shinigami were safely capable of transportation to the otherworldly realm. Teleportation to the Realm was possible in other places, but only if you were keen to risk losing an arm or leg in the process. Moving between worlds was a tricky business.

Will sighed a little as he allowed himself to slump into the drivers seat. The car was warmer than the outside temperature, but it was of little comfort. Turning the key in the ignition, the first thing he did was turn up the heater. That was better. Sort of, anyhow. He wasn't sure why, but this evening had seemed to drag on forever; more than any other day – and being immortal, any other day could end up being like an eternity. The digital clock on the heads up display flashed at him: 11:24 PM. Will sighed again and put the car into reverse.

The roads were clear as he pulled into the street, but something drifting downwards caught the corner of his eye before he accelerated out of the garage. Will looked out his window, only to see the tiniest of snowflakes beginning to descend – dancing and twirling slowly downwards, as if they were sinking through a aspic that was the night sky.

'Hmm,' he murmured, to no one in particular, as he put the car into first gear and drove out and into the night. By the time he was on the highway out of the main city of London and into more built up housing areas, the snow was thicker, but still waltzing in that slow, graceful way.


	2. Chapter 2

**.:II:.**

The entire house was quiet as the sun dared to peek out from behind the looming clouds that threatened more snow and possibly sheeting rain. Such a winter morning was best spent in bed, and if one was awake to enjoy such a morning that frosted the windows, one who preferably have a hot cup of tea to sip down and warm ones bones. Unfortunately, no such luxury was possible on that morning, and one of the inhabitants of the house, at least, was already stirring from their slumber.

Fighting the cold, Alexis sat up and yawned, rewrapping herself in her doona to fend off the chill in the air. Sleepily, she swung her legs over the side of her bed and buried her feet into her slippers – it didn't help that they were just as cold as the rest of her bedroom, but there was only so much one could expect from a morning such as this. Her sleep-blinded attention was pierced by the whistling of a kettle, and Alexis smiled. School today was going to be cold – but at least a hot breakfast was going to be somewhat warming.

Trudging downstairs, Alexis was greeted by the sizzling of an omelet on the stove and the smell of brewing tea on the bench. Skilled hands worked tirelessly over the cutting board – slicing a sandwich and deftly wrapping it in cling wrap before setting it aside to retrieve the sky-rocketing toast from the toaster.

'Good morning, Alexis,' the deep voice was tired, and Alexis knew that her older brother had been out late the night before.

'Hey Will,' she slid onto a stool at the counter as a plate of omelet-on-toast came sliding her way, before a steaming cup of tea was set down in front of her to join the plate. She smiled up at her big brother. 'Thanks.'

William T Spears nodded before spooning two heaped teaspoons of coffee into his own cup. He fished the kettle off the stove and soon the air was a battlefield of the smell of coffee and tea, puffs of steam wafting through the air. Alexis wrinkled her nose at her brother as he took a deep swig of the caffeine-powered drink.

'I don't understand how you can drink that,' she said around a mouthful of toast, and William sighed, a warm puff of mist escaping his lips as he readjusted his glasses.

'And I don't see how you can possibly think that this is any sort of appropriate time to be getting up. How many times this week do you want to be late for school?' he asked, scrutinizing her with his green eyes. Alexis shrugged – most people would have withered under Will's glare, but after seventeen years of living with him, she had become fairly accustomed to it.

'School's overrated. It's not as if I enjoy it, anyway,' she said into her own cup. 'Besides – it's only one year left, and I'm guaranteed to be graduating with the marks I'm getting.'

William cocked an eyebrow as he downed the last of his coffee before placing his cup into the sink. He was already dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt and his normal black tie and black slacks, but his hair was in a sad state of disarray. Alexis smiled over her tea and toast as the sunlight coming through the kitchen window caught strands of Will's hair and cast different shadow patterns over the wall. She pouted as he ran an absent-minded hand through it to try to flatten it a little.

'You'd better hurry up and get dressed,' he said, not noticing her watching him. 'Otherwise I'm going to have to drop you all the way out to school. And I refuse to let you walk on such a morning.'

'Aw – why not?' Alexis complained. 'Sure it's cold and all, but I don't mind walking to the train station.'

William turned to send another unconvinced eyebrow in her direction. 'One, I will not let you be late for school – _again._ And two, there was an ice warning on the news this morning and I will not risk you trying to not be late for school by running and therefore entertaining the possibility of causing an accident and getting hurt.'

Alexis grumbled and finished her breakfast – but she knew that he was right. However she didn't honestly see the point in him driving her to school if the risk of ice on the roads was still going to be there – wasn't that only really putting them both in danger?

'I know what you're thinking, and before you say it, no.' William said from the hallway. He was running a comb through his hair in front of the hall mirror and pulling on his jacket. 'The car has ice protection on the tires, remember?'

Alexis sighed. It was worth a try.

Snow buried the house to about a foot deep, and William and Alexis picked their way through the snow, over the rough vicinity of the footpath to the sleek black car that waited for them like a sleeping panther. The scarf wrapped around Alexis' neck flapped in the soft breeze, blinding her vision for a moment as it flailed about in front of her eyes, and she tripped and went flying. Crying out, she collided with her brother and knocked them both forward, landing face-first in the snow. William was cursing softly under his breath and Alexis swore out loud as they tried to sit up, but kept getting tangled up in each others limbs.

'Oof! Hey – gettoff!' she cried as Will tried to push himself up, only to accidentally knee Alexis in the stomach.

'I'm sorry – but if you hadn't slipped – ouch!' he was cut off as Alexis scrambled to get out from under him, but his foot was on her scarf, and she was gagged and she slid back over and landed on him again as he fell back down from having her scoot from under him.

'Ffffffu-'

'Alexis!' Will said sharply as Alexis loosened the scarf and slipped it over her head before rolling away from her brother. They both lay there for a moment, staring up at the sky, a little dazed. Then, Alexis felt something bubble and rise in her chest, until a soft laugh escaped her lips.

'What now?' William asked irritably, but Alexis just got to her feet and brushed herself off before replying.

'Nothing – it's just – that was kinda fun,' she said, offering him a hand up too. His glasses had fallen off in the tussle, and he just stared at the vague vicinity of where her hand was. 'Oh right – sorry Will.' She dropped down to her knees in the snow again and began to ferret around – it was hard, sometimes, to remember that her older brother wasn't able to see much past his outstretched fingertips without his glasses, mainly because she hardly ever saw him without them. They were like an aspect of him that, if missing, was surprising.

Will was grumbling under his breath as he let his fingers trail through the snow around him, too, in search of the glasses. Something cold, thin and metal hit Alexis' fingers, and she came up with gold, holding up the glasses with a triumphant cry.

'Found them!'

'Good,' Will reached out in her general direction. 'If you don't mind.'

Alexis laughed and held them just out of his reach. 'Aww, you're no fun, Will.'

'Give them back, Alexis – I'm going to be late for work and you'll be late for school.'

Alexis laughed and merely turned the spectacles over in her hands. 'Ha ha – come on – just one day surely won't matter that much? Besides, we're both going to have to get changed anyway, so we'll be late no matter what.'

There was a stern frown carving its way across Will's brow. 'Alexis!'

Alexis sighed and took her brother by his outstretched hand, pulling him to his feet. He patted himself down, shaking any offending snow from his suit before holding out his hand for his glasses again. 'Alexis – please.'

'Yeah, I know – hey – what does the world look like with them on, anyhow? Is everything intensified or somethi-' She put the glasses on, only to stop dead in her tracks. The moment the spectacles were seated on the bridge of her nose, her vision warped and change. Suddenly, everything faded into a blue colour, with tinges of violet and seaweed green. William was yelling something, but instead of hearing him, Alexis was focused on the bring white light that she could see exploding from her brothers chest, reels and reels of brightness dancing and weaving around each other, coursing through his veins…

'Alexis!' His hands were on her shoulders, shaking her, and then, his gloved fingers found her face and pulled the glasses off of her, and her vision went back to normal. A wave of dizziness spiraled around her head, and she felt herself falling backwards. William was there, catching her and supporting her while she regained her balance.

'Whoa – ' she breathed as the world stopped spinning enough for her to focus on the ground in front of them, a minefield of footprints and scuff marks in the snow. 'What the _hell_ was that?'

'Never!' Will yelled, his eyes a furious green behind his newly returned glasses. '_Never_ put on my glasses! Ever! You have no idea the damage you might have caused – you…you _idiot_!'

Something went cold in Alexis' chest – and it wasn't from the snow. Will had never raised his voice to her, ever – not once. And he'd never called her an idiot. He'd never lost his cool with her – sure, he'd gotten annoyed and he'd chastised her for doing stupid stuff, but he'd never gone off the deep end like this. And his face was so close to hers, his arms stiff and cold around her. Alexis had never seen this side of her brother before – and that terrified her.

'I- Will, I'm-' She couldn't find the words to say; she didn't know what to do to make things right. Apologizing didn't quite seem like enough. Will bit his lip, obviously biting back more vicious reprimanding, and then he took a deep breath, calming himself. Then, he helped her to stand upright, but the moment he let her go, Alexis felt even colder than ever. William simply retrieved his working briefcase from the snow, readjusted his glasses, and stood by the car. When he turned to her, she felt his cold glare not meeting her eyes.

'Get in the car.' He said quietly, and Alexis nodded numbly and did as she was told. She had a feeling that the car trip to school was going to be very, very quiet and very, very cold, no matter how high the cars heater was turned up.

Alan Humphries was the first to notice his senior's foul mood that morning. William T Spears had stalked into the office, water almost literally vaporising from his wet closed, he was so steamingly teed off. He had, for the most part, dried by the time he'd reached the London Branch of the Dispatch Society, but Alan could see that not even that could have lightened his mood. He noted to himself how Will avoided eye contact with everyone, sending chilled looks only to those who dared say good morning to him. Alan allowed himself a small smile before regaining his composure – it was most certainly not a good morning for William.

Sighing, Alan quickly slid the last of his report papers into their file and tucked them under his arm as he composed himself to face his boss. Glancing across the main office floor to Will's private office, he could see his senior strip himself of his blazer and hang it neatly in front of the heater, before turning said heater up a few notches. There was a low chuckle at Alan's ear that made him jump.

'No one likes a cold office in the morning,' whirling, Alan came face-to-face with Eric Slingby, his constant partner and friend. Alan chuckled a little.

'I suppose not even the boss is that frozen,' he commented, and Eric laughed as he turned to the coffee machine a few feet away. Alan followed him over – anything to put off having to go up to Will and hand in his report.

'Yeah, well. Maybe Will's office wouldn't be as frosty if he didn't act like he had an icicle stuck up his ass all the time,' Eric chuckled, pulling off his gloves to wrap his hands around a brewing coffee mug. He picked it up and handed it to Alan. 'Here. You look like you need it.'

'Thanks,' Alan smiled and accepted the cup, sipping the broth gratefully. 'I suppose I'd better take another one – for William, of course.'

Eric smirked and raised an eyebrow. 'What're you gonna try and do, defrost him a little?'

'Something like that,' they shared another laugh as Eric filled two more cups with coffee. The two Reapers clinked their cups together before Eric handed Alan the second one, and Alan sighed and turned on his heel. It was now or never to face Will – of course, he shouldn't really be on the receiving end of Will's wrath this morning – it wasn't like he'd done anything wrong. He'd finished his report over an hour early the day previous, had sorted out some paperwork for one of the younger reapers and had even had time to shared a drink with Eric before one last assignment before going home that night. Will had been vaguely impressed with his constant work ethic, as usual, but that was, of course, the night before. Now was a whole new ball game. Alan cleared his throat and began to head towards Will's office.

'I'll wear a purple tux to your funeral!' Eric called after him with a chortle, and Alan rolled his eyes as some of the other Reapers bustling around the busy office joined in the light laughter – as soon as William glanced up from his desk, however, they were all back to having their heads down at their desks or noses in their paperwork. But Alan had caught William's eye, and now it was as if Alan was set into automatic – one foot in front of the other. Nothing to be afraid of, Will was just in a bit of a mood just like he was on any halfway decent morning. Alan told himself to man up, just a little.

'What do you want, Humphries?' William had gone back to his own paperwork and didn't even look up as he growled. Alan hesitated in the doorway before stepping into the office.

'My report, Sir, from last night,' he began, setting the second cup of coffee down next to William's right hand, which was furiously scrawling across a page, before fishing the manilla folder out from under his arm. Alan laid the folder into William's "in" box, and the older Reaper glanced up for the briefest of moments before readjusting his glasses and going back to seriously tormenting the paper with his pen.

'Fine.' Silence fell between them. It was an uncomfortable one – Alan knew better than to hang around when Will was in one of his bad moods, but somehow the younger Reaper seemed riveted to the floor. Something compelled him to ask a stupid question.

'…Sir?'

The pen stopped, and his superior looked up slowly. Alan saw, for the first time, really, just how damp William was. What had happened? Maybe he'd fallen in a snowy embankment? The cold look on Will's eyes reflected his chilled person.

'What, Humphries?'

Alan steeled himself into asking. He'd always been the one who faced angry superiors – it wasn't that he wasn't afraid of them; truth be told getting lectured for anything scared the pants off most Reapers. It was just that he could deal with it better than others. So if there was ever difficult news to break, Alan had been every other Reapers go-to guy who'd report it in to William. It was just something he'd grown used to over the many years he'd spent at the Dispatch Society.

'Um, well, Sir…is there something wrong, Sir?' the moment the words had left his lips, Alan regretted asking them. Of course there was something wrong. William had been silently fuming the entire time he'd been here, and the fumes were only getting hotter. Steam could have been rising off of him, for all Alan knew.

There was a very, very cold quiet between them, but now he'd asked, Alan knew that he couldn't back down. Funny how he always seemed to be the one to take Will's wrath. Maybe he was just too kind, too understanding. It certainly explained why he was able to put up with that jerk Eric and even consider him a friend after so long.

'There is _nothing_ wrong, Humphries.' Growled William unconvincingly. Alan nodded curtly and turned on his heel, heading for the door before he could get yelled at.

'Of course Sir.'

There was a sigh behind him, and he paused in the doorway. Alan counted down from five, slowly, keeping himself calm, knowing that Will was surely about to complain about something he'd done. What if he hadn't filled out the form correctly? Will would know the moment he simply touched the folder. Alan braced himself.

'Humphries.'

Alan blinked. William wasn't yelling – his voice was quiet, controlled. Restrained, Alan noted, but still. No early-morning temper tantrums from William was a good sign.

'Yes, Sir?' Alan turned back to Will, who had his elbows resting on his mahogany table, fingers steepled together and thumbs gently rubbing his temples, like he had a headache. He looked up after a moment, his expression unreadable, before reaching into his desk drawer and pulling out a smaller manila folder.

'I'm putting you on an unofficial reconnaissance mission.'

Alan's ears pricked. This was new.

'Unofficial, Sir? What's the matter?' he stepped back into the office and stopped in front of William's desk as his superior took a single photograph from the folder. It was like a school photograph, taken of a teenage girl with long, brown hair and pale green eyes. They weren't Shinigami green – they were about three shades greener. But they were similar.

'This girl,' William said shortly. 'I want you to keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't do anything that would seem out of the ordinary. She's currently attending Ravenhurst High School in Winchester.'

'Winchester?' Alan took the photo that William handed him. She was a pretty enough girl, looking straight at the camera like she was daring it to snap the shot. Alan looked questioningly at William. 'Is there any particular reason for this sudden precaution?'

William took a sip of the steaming coffee that Alan had left on his desk.

'Mm,' he nodded. 'She may know too much. All you have to do is make sure she doesn't say anything that might incriminate us.'

'Incriminate? How so, Sir?' Alan tucked the photo into the breast pocket of his blazer, before glancing around. The glass windows allowed a view into the open area of the office, and he could see Eric and Ronald, a younger Reaper like himself, standing by the printer, pretending to be busy putting in new ink cartridges and more paper, but he knew that they were both sneaking looks his way.

'Just do it, Humphries.' William sighed irritably. 'If she finds out about the Dispatch then we could be as good as finished.'

Alan blinked in surprise. 'B-but Sir – she's just a human, isn't she?'

'Of course she is,' William said, a little forced. 'But if she starts to talk then we could have a world of problems on our hands. I assume you know what schoolgirls are like with their gossip.'

Alan nodded. 'Well, yes, Sir – I do remember the occasional reaping that has to take place in a school.'

'Then you know that rumours are deadly. So just watch her, and make sure they don't start and that she remains out of harm's way for the day.' William said curtly, and Alan nodded again.

'Yessir.'

'And Alan,' William called to Alan's retreating back as Alan turned to head out of the office again.

'Yes, Sir?'

'Consider all your paperwork, any Reapings, and any overtime you may have or be assigned today officially added to Reaper Slingby's workload.' William said, and Alan nearly choked.

'Do you mean –'

'Yes, Alan,' Will interrupted. 'You're on an unofficial mission for me, observational mode only – that means no interfering unless completely necessary, and therefore you shouldn't not have to cope with the extra work you already have. This takes priority in ensuring the safety and secrecy of the Society. Therefore, Eric gets your workload today, on top of his own.'

Alan felt like cheering, but at the same time he felt bad for having to hand off all his work to Eric. The older Reaper was going to have words to say about that. Alan nodded in response to William before heading out of the office again, pausing only one last time in the doorway.

'Sir?'

'Yes, Humphries?' William was back to being head-down and frustrating an innocent piece of paper with his pen.

'Shall I keep word of this mission quiet from the others?'

The pen paused a moment, but then it went back to scrawling and twirling across the page. 'Yes, Humphries.'

Alan nodded to himself, and then, he stepped back out into the open area, where several of the milling Shinigami gave him questioning looks as to the conversation he'd just held with his superior. He gave them polite smiles, quick nods, and then continued on his way. He passed Eric and Ronald, both of whom had their jaws on the floor in surprise that Will hadn't murdered Alan with his foul mood by now, pressed the button a the elevator, and then stepped into the capsule that would take him down to the parking garage.

His phone had been beeping constantly on his way to the train station that would take him on the hour or so journey out to Winchester, and simply refused to stop even after he'd take his seat on the train. Alan had ignored it, but it had been insistent. He knew he couldn't keep fending off calls from Eric and Ronald forever – they undoubtedly wanted to know what was going on, where he was going, what was up with William. Finally, he flipped his phone open and the screen lit up.

Fifteen missed text messages, four missed calls. All from Reaper Slingby and Reaper Knox. Bored, Alan opened the messages from Eric.

**From:**** Slingby-Senpai  
****To:**** Alan Humphries  
oi – OI! What's up with all YOUR work now being mine? ANSWER ME ALAN. DO IT. OR I'LL HOLD UP THE COFFEE MACHINE FOR RANSOM.**

The next one wasn't much better, but at least they made Alan smile a little.

**From:**** Slingby-Senpai  
****To:**** Alan Humphries  
what's goin on Alan? Wills got a stick up his butt and nearly fumigated the entire floor with his shit mood. Wherere you going and why wont you reply? PICK UP DAMMIT MAN THIS IS YOUR SENPAIR TEXTING.**

Alan didn't really believe that Eric would leave him alone unless he came up with some sort of good explanation. And, he realized with a sigh, the truth was always the best sort of explanation.

**From:**** Alan Humphries  
****To:**** Slingby-Senpai  
fyi, eric – I'm on a mission for Will and I'm not allowed to say what it is and where. Don't worry about me, I'm be back a little later this afternoon. I'm sorry about you getting my workload today – if you don't finish all the paperwork, bring it over to my apartment after about 5 and I'll help you finish it.  
-A**

The reply he received to that was less than happy, and almost instantaneous.

**From:**** Slingby-Senpai  
****To:**** Alan Humphries  
I remain unimpressed. Your place. 5. You better be there.  
-E**

Alan sighed and stowed away his phone, watching the scenery pass by out the window. The countryside was cover in a layer of snow that was quiet light for this time over year – winter had graced London a little later than usual this year, but it only promised that there would be heavier snowfall later on.

The train pulled into the Winchester station about twenty minutes later, and Alan filed off with the rest of the passengers before hailing a cab. He gave the destination to the driver and the car pulled away from the station. Alan sat back and tried to think about all the things that this girl could say – Will hadn't exactly been very explanatory with the situation, but Alan had to assume that the threat he'd mentioned was serious.

The car arrived at the gates of Ravenhurst Private High School a little while after that, dropping Alan off outside the gates. He took a leaping bound up onto the wall encircling the school after the car had disappeared from sight, moving quickly and silently over the walls and through the school grounds. He reached what seemed to be the main class buildings, and groaned inwardly as he saw that the buildings stood about three stories high. That was a lot of classrooms to cover before he found the girl.

Sighing, he entered what must have been the receptionists office inside the main building, and approached the desk. The young lady behind the counter didn't notice him until he coughed.

'Oh – sorry Sir, I didn't see you there,' she smiled politely and turned away from her computer to face him. 'What can I do for you today?'

Alan fished the photograph that Will had given him out his pocket and handed it to the receptionist.

'Uh – I'm looking for this girl, I believe she's a student here?' he said, and the receptionist took the photo.

'Oh yeah – she's a senior up on the top floor; can I ask what relate you have to her?'

Alan blinked. He hadn't actually expected that question at first, but thinking over it, it made sense for it to be asked. He hadn't even known the girls name.

'Uh – I'm her new tutor. Alan.' He held his hand out to shake, and the receptionist smiled and shook his hand in return.

'Sure thing, Mister Alan – ' she hit a small bell on her desk, and from the office behind her another young woman came out. The receptionist gestured to her. 'Miss Hetherington will guide you up there.'

'Thank you,' Alan smiled and followed the other woman, who led him up three broad flights of carpeted steps. She was blabbering something about how wonderful it was that the students were taking their education into their own hands by asking for tutors. Truth be told, it was only the thought of how Eric had been Alan's own tutor through his initiation and internship that Alan had survived. So saying he was a tutor was merely a slip of the tongue; he had meant to come up with something more convincing, but neither the receptionist nor this Miss Hetherington seemed to see anything wrong with that.

Instead of listening to the young woman's constant chatting, Alan surveyed his surroundings. The windows on each floor seemed fairly secure, but as a fully grown Reaper he'd have no trouble smashing through them with either brute force or his death scythe. Which…he'd forgotten. Will hadn't mentioned anything about a Reaping, so Alan's death scythe had remained, completely forgotten, beside his desk in his own office. He mentally kicked himself for such an irresponsible move.

'…And here we are – this is her floor.' Miss Hetherington said finally, bringing Alan crashing back to reality. She pointed down the hallway to a door at the end. 'Her classroom is right down there, on the left. She's got English right now, but I'm sure her teacher won't mind the disturbance.'

'Thank you, ma'am – I believe I can find her on my own now,' Alan said, and the young woman nodded and flounced away down the other end of the hall. Swallowing, Alan fished his phone out of his pocket again, only to be greeted by another three text messages from Ronald. Thankfully, Eric had stopped messaging him by now.

'Yes?' the voice on the other of the line was expectant.

'I'm here, Sir,' Alan said. 'Can I at least know this girls' name?'

William sighed down the phone line. For a moment, Alan almost thought that he wasn't going to answer him – he started down the hall, passing each classroom until he got to the last one on the left. There she was – sitting in the back, staring idly at the whiteboard and the teacher, lazily twirling a pen around her fingers.

'Fine,' Will said finally. 'Her name is Alexis.'

Alan nodded. 'Okay. I've spotted her.'


	3. Chapter 3

**.:III:.**

To say that life was currently moving painfully slow was a huge understatement. Alexis had so far spent the entirety of her morning at school trying to ignore the headache that had been building up behind her eyes ever since she'd gotten into the car. For some reason, she'd been unable to think up any other plausible reason for the slowly building pain except for Williams glasses. When her vision had changed when she'd put them on.

It was like she'd been looking through the eyes of someone else, someone…someone with the powers of a God. Of course, it would sound ridiculous if she were to say anything to anyone, and she honestly didn't believe in gossip, so she put it down to the fact that Will had simply had the heater up too high in the car. But she knew that she was only lying to herself and anyone else who asked if she was feeling all right.

Third period of class, and she was still no better. The teacher was conducting the class at a snails pace, with most of the students gazing out of the windows or just pretending to be listening. Alexis found herself twirling a pen around her fingers, her eyes fixated on the whiteboard in abstract boredom. Suddenly, there was a run of whispers spiraling the classroom. A paper plane soared passed her head, which she would have ignored if one of her classmates, a boy named Jonathon, hadn't nudged her.

'Hey,' he whispered. 'There's someone starin' at you.'

Alexis didn't register what he'd said at first – she was trying to recall the memory of what looking through Will's glasses was like; but the memory was fading fast.

'Huh?'

Jonathon gave a nod towards the door. 'That guy. He keeps lookin' at you.'

Alexis blinked numbly for a moment before looking where Jonathon had nodded, to the window next to the door, but the only thing she saw was the flash of what could have been the sleeve of a blazer.

'N'aww,' Jonathon sighed. 'He's gone. Weirdo.'

'Why was he so interesting if he was just a weirdo?' Alexis asked quietly, as to not catch the teachers attention. Jonathon shrugged.

'Anything's interesting if it gets rid of the boredom in this class. Third period always seems to go forevvveer.' He yawned, drawling out the last syllables. Alexis sighed and went back to staring at the whiteboard.

However she glanced around occasionally, not to hear what the teacher was saying and not even to look at her classmates. She tried to be as subtle as possible, moving only her eyes, back to the window that looked out of the classroom and into the hallway. And only once did she ever catch sight of the person everyone must have been whispering about. He was young-ish, but there was something more outstanding about him than any other feature.

He was wearing _glasses_.

* * *

The rest of the day trudged by, but Alexis hardly seemed to notice. None of her classes seemed to matter to her; all that was important was finding out more about the guy from the window.

By lunchtime, there was one thing that Alexis was sure about; he was following her. Sometimes she couldn't see him, but she could almost sense him, hiding around corners and staying just out of sight. No one else noticed him, although if anyone bumped into him, they'd smile, apologize and move on. He'd return the apologies, but as soon as they turned the other way, it was as if he'd never been there.

She didn't know if he knew that she had noticed him, but she tried to remain as inconspicuous as possible. She didn't know why he was following her, or if she was just paranoid. Her friends certainly noticed.

'Hey – oi! Alexis!' Shirley Bankford snapped her fingers impatiently in Alexis' face. 'Earth to Alexis! Come in, Alexis!'

'Huh?' Alexis blinked back to reality, realizing that she'd been staring straight past Shirley for the last five minutes. Shirley was less than impressed, her long auburn ringlets bouncing around her face.

'As I was saying – you're not looking too great today.' Shirley said, sitting back in her seat. There were four of them – Alexis, Shirley, and two others; Amanda Jenkins and Lucinda Schmidt, sitting around a table in the school cafeteria. 'You sure you're okay?'

'Y-yeah, I'm fine.' Alexis mumbled, dropping her eyes and trying to figure out what exactly Will had put into her sandwich. It looked like a concerning mix of peanut butter, jam and sliced banana.

'You've been saying that all day,' Lucinda said, unconvinced. 'What's on your mind, anyhow? You keep spacing out and that's worrying.'

'Uh…' Alexis cursed silently for not being blessed with the gift of the gab. If only she was more like Will, able to come up with answers at the snap of his fingers. 'It's nothing, really – I just had an argument with Will this morning.'

This seemed to get everyone's attention.

'Ooh,' Amanda cooed. 'How terrible! What happened, pumpkin?'

'N-nothing! It's just – we – ' Something had caught her eyes in the reflection of the glass window they were sitting next to. Alexis saw her own reflection, but beyond that, behind her, was the young man with the glasses. Even through the reflection, she knew he was staring at her – his pale green eyes calmly watching.

Alexis spun in her seat. He was gone, but she caught sight of his mop of light brown hair again – he was halfway across the cafeteria, making his way through a small crowd that seemed to part just enough for him to slip through unnoticed. How had he moved so fast? Alexis shot to her feet.

'Whoa, hey! Where're you going?' Shirley called after her, but Alexis was already gone, weaving her way through the crowd, trying not to lose sight of him. Her suspicions were confirmed – he was definitely following her. And she had to find out why.

* * *

The lunch bell rang just as Alexis managed to get through the suddenly massively crowded cafeteria and into the main hallway, and she almost convinced herself to just forget about him and go to class. But a deeper curiosity kept her going forward. She had to know who he was.

'Hey!' Alexis broke into a run now that there weren't so many people around, and the young man glanced back before bursting into a run himself. He pulled something from his pocket as he ran – a phone.

She couldn't hear was he was saying, but he only spoke briefly, never once faltering in his run, and she stretched her legs to try and keep up. It was undisputed fact that she was one of the fastest runners in the school – a natural talent along with being strong as well as agile. Alexis had never been more grateful for her long legs than now, but it seemed that the young man was still able to stay at quite a distance in front of her. He swerved off, up the stairs, taking them two at a time, sometimes three. Alexis was only starting to feel her lungs stretch to take in more air as she dashed after him.

'H-hey! Wait!' she called after him, but he didn't stop. He grabbed the banister of the stairwell and swung himself easily over it, continuing on his way up, but there was a tearing sound – his jacket had caught and tore. Alexis heard him gasp, but he didn't stop to pull the torn item of clothing off the banister. When Alexis reached the stairwell, she paused to grab the shred. It came off in her hands, and from the folds of dark fabric fell what looked like an ID badge.

_Alan Humphries,_ it read. _Reaper at the Shinigami Dispatch Society._

Alexis blinked at the piece of card in disbelief. A…Shinigami? What was-

'Hey!' The young man was standing at the top of the stairs, breathing hard. His torn blazer hung from his slender frame, and Alexis could see the worry on his face. 'Hey – I need that.'

'That is this? Some kind of joke?' Alexis asked incredulously, holding up the badge for him to see. 'A Death God – really?'

The young man swallowed back a breath. 'Listen, I just need you to give me back that card – I need it back. Please?'

Alexis examined it again before putting it into her pocket. 'You know what? No.'

A look of terror passed over his face. His already pale features seemed to sink in a paler shade – one she wasn't even aware that human features were capable of.

'No – you don't understand. That's…that's really important to me – I need it back.' He stumbled, and Alexis shrugged.

'So? I'll tell you what – you tell me why the hell you've been following me, and I give you this back.' She patted her pocket, and the young man looked like he was close to have a heart attack. Alexis readied herself to run again if he lunged down the stairs at her, but the look of defeat on his face told her that she probably wouldn't need to.

'Allright,' the young man sighed. 'Listen, I'll tell you. I-is there somewhere quiet we can go?'

Alexis looked around. 'Downstairs,' she said, and led the way back down. She caught sight of him reaching into his pocket, but she stopped and glared at him. 'Uh-uh. No phone.' She held out her hand, and, reluctantly, he handed it to her. She slipped it into her own pocket beside his ID badge.

'I'll need that back, too,' he said, and Alexis shrugged.

'I know.' She said. 'I'm not actually planning on keeping them – just until I know what you're doing here and who you are.'

The young man shrugged. 'If you want to know who I am, you've got my ID badge.'

'Like I'm going to believe that you're a god of death,' Alexis snorted. 'That's like saying my brother has a good-natured sense of humour.'

The young man blinked. 'Uh…I suppose that depends –' he cut himself off, and Alexis had a sneaking suspicion that he knew more than he was letting on. He had had a considerate look on his face – almost as if he knew Will. Alexis narrowed her eyes, and then led him down and into one of the unused classrooms. The hallways were empty now – everyone else was in class, and there was no one around to tell Alexis off for wandering around.

'If anyone asks, I'm your new private tutor,' the young man said, and Alexis scoffed.

'Really? That's the story you used to get in here?' she asked, and he nodded as he closed the empty classroom's door behind him. She gestured for him to take a seat, but he stood until she herself sat down.

'You're a real gentleman,' she muttered, and he shrugged.

'It's force of habit, I suppose,' he sighed, and she took the ID badge out her pocket, turning it over in her hands.

'Soooo,' she said, watching him carefully. 'You're Alan.'

He nodded. 'Alan Humphries, at your service, ma'am.'

Alexis wrinkled her nose. 'It's kind of…old fashioned, for a name, isn't it?'

Alan shrugged. 'Maybe. It makes it unique.'

'Okay…then.' Alexis nodded. 'So. What're you doing here, Alan?' she felt like she was interrogating him, but he didn't seem phased by it – if anything he seemed more nervous about the fact that she had his phone and badge.

'Uh…okay,' Alan took a deep breath. 'You're probably not going to understand a lot of this, but I'll explain it as well I as can.'

'Try me,' Alexis smiled.

'Okay. Well, first things first – that badge you've got there – my badge – it's not a fake. I'm a Death God, and I've been an active Grim Reaper in the London Branch of the Shinigami Dispatch Society for the past three hundred and forty-two years.' Alan said, and Alexis nearly burst out laughing. It sounded so ridiculous – so…so unreal, but he said it was a completely straight face. That was what didn't allow the laugh to escape her lips.

'Wait…you're for real?' she asked, and Alan nodded.

'I'm not lying. Everything I'm about to tell you is true – of course, I can't tell you _everything_, because a lot of it is classified. But if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.'

'All right,' Alexis said. 'So answer my question from before. If you're a Grim Reaper, one of the guys that goes around with a massive scythe reaping the souls of the dead, then why are you here?' Suddenly, a chill went down her spine. 'Wait – you're not here for_ my_ soul, are you?'

Alan laughed in surprise. 'What? Oh no – nothing like that. It's…complicated, and I – ' he was cut off by the sudden insistent ringing in Alexis' pocket. Alan's phone.

'Is that for you?' Alexis asked with a smirk, and Alan swallowed hard, looking more nervous than ever.

'Um…yes…' he murmured as Alexis pulled out the phone, flipped it open and held it to her ear. She knew it wasn't incredibly polite to answer someone else's' phone, but she tired of the secrecy that was going around. And she wanted answers of her own.

'Humphries! I swear I'm going to kill you if you allow her to – Humphries?' the barking voice on the other end of the phone made Alexis jump nearly a foot in the air.

There was silence. Alan had overheard – he hung his head.

'…Humphries? Are you there?' the voice was quieter now, and unmistakably William.

'…Will?' Alexis said softly, only to have silence on the other end of the phone. Alexis stared at Alan, silently begging for answers. He just shook his head.

'Alexis?' William said very, very quietly. 'Why do you have this phone?'

'Because there's this guy sitting in front of me, claiming to be a god of death,' she replied, as calmly as she could. 'Why are you calling him?'

There was another moment of quiet, before she heard some murmured conversation on the other end, her brothers voice clearly defined but his words muffled by what must have been his hand on the receiver. Finally, he spoke again.

'Listen to me very carefully, Alexis – give this phone back to Alan Humphries immediately. And go with him. Let me speak to him, there's something he needs to be told.' William said, but Alexis pouted.

'I want answers, Will – what's going on? Today's just getting weirder and weirder.' She watched Alan carefully, and he gave her a pleading look. 'If I give him his phone back, will you promise to explain everything to me?'

Will sighed in irritation down the phone line. '…yes. I promise.'

Slowly, Alexis handed the phone over to Alan, who took and it held it to his ear. 'Senpai? I'm sorry, Senpai – I messed up.'

She couldn't hear what William was saying to Alan, but she was more concerned with why William was talking to Alan. And this whole business about being Grim Reaper – that only served to confuse her further. Finally, after a lot of 'yessir's and 'of course, sir,'s, Alan hung up and stowed the phone back into his pocket before turning to Alexis.

'We have to go.' He said simply, and Alexis refused to budge when he stood up and gestured for her to follow.

'Not until – '

'I'll explain on the way, all right? I promise.' Alan said, a hint of urgency tugging at his voice. Something in that urgency made Alexis move, and she followed him out and into the school's foyer. Alan paused.

'What is it?' Alexis asked, but he raised his hand for silence without looking back at her. There was a tense awareness about him, and Alexis felt a shift in the air that made her slightly uncomfortable. The air seemed thick, heavier than just the dustings of snow littering the ground outside.

'There's…' Alan said softly, looking around. 'Something…not right…'

Alexis stood as still as she possibly could, mimicking his movements, only daring to let her eyes wander around the foyer. The sun was shining through the window from between the clouds – there as the sound of birds singing outside for a moment; and then, it stopped. And everything truly was silent. Alan very carefully slid his phone from his pocket, pressed a single number, and very slowly held it to his ear.

'I need back-up,' he whispered, just before the entire building see to explode. Alan whirled and threw himself at Alexis, colliding with her and throwing her to the floor as the front wall of the school foyer crumbled, sending debris and stone and shattered glass flying everywhere. Alexis stifled a yelp as Alan was suddenly over her, grabbing her arm and hauling her upwards. A shadow loomed over them and her glanced up – something that could only be described as monstrous reared back and took another clawed swing at the building – it was twice the size as the main building as looked twice as nasty. Alexis felt her breath stop for the briefest of moments, before Alan tugged her forwards again, and they took off at a run. Whatever it was, it was mad, and it was after them.

The screams of other school students could be heard echoing down the halls, and students and teachers began pouring out of the classroom like sand from a broken hourglass to see what was going on. The creature simply waded through them, thrashing and tearing through everything in sight. Rubble from the floors above them started to rain down as Alexis and Alan took flying leaps over toppled lockers and desks that were scattered everywhere – Alan had lost his grip on her and but Alexis was still right behind him. Somehow, she was able to keep up, even though some of the jumps that Alan took seemed impossible for a normal human being. She didn't have time to contemplate if he really was a Death God or not – all she knew was that if she lost sight of him, she was as good as dead.

'This way!' she yelled to him as the creature brought one giant, darkly shadowed foot down in front of them, bringing them to a stumbling halt as it loomed it's hulking form right over the top over them. Alan nearly fell, but Alexis managed to catch him by the arm and she swerved away, pulling him down another corridor. She was hardly able to tell where she was anymore – the classrooms were already wrecked from the damage the monster had caused and the corridors were weirdly unfamiliar with rubble and debris scattered through them.

'We need to get out of here!' Alan yelled behind her, but Alexis didn't have the breath to reply. She saw the wall at the end of the hallway – it was untouched by the monster just yet, and there was an unshattered window – she knew it wasn't much, but it was worth a try. Any other way out seemed impossible.

'There!'

'I see it!' Alan called, and he was suddenly drawing alongside her, his arm around her waist and his legs stretching further than her own could, taking longer strides before thrusting his other arm forwards and taking a leap through the window. Glass shattered and flew all around them, Alan's elbow up and protecting both of their faces, and Alexis felt him sail them both through, landing and tumbling out into the grass of the school grounds outside.

They rolled to a stop, and Alexis found herself staring up at the sky in a daze. Funny, she thought, how she'd already ended up like this once already today. William's face flashed through her mind, but her daze was broken by the sudden shadow hovering over her again – the creature was staring right at them, looming over them. Alexis felt her head loll to the side – beside her, Alan was face down on the grass, not moving. Unconscious, she guessed. Suddenly, she felt like she no longer really cared if this monster above her killed her. It would be sad, she supposed, if she died before she could find out what was going on with William.

The creatures' foul breath washed over her like a wave of raw sewerage. The screams of the students and teachers were either gone or simply muted to her ears – she didn't doubt that most of them were dead. Somehow, that neither surprised no sickened her. Maybe imminent death was funny like that.

Suddenly, her daze was broken by the revving of what sounded like a very old engine. Something flew over her head and collided with the creature head on, sending the beast stumbling back with a victory whoop. Three more shapes came flying at the creature, attacking it from all sides like flies buzzing around an angered dogs head. The monster roared and pawed at the air, trying to swipe them away, but the figures – Alexis' confused mind vaguely recognized them as what looked like humans – simply ducked, swerved and danced around the creature, attacking again and again with what looked like gardening tools.

_Good luck to them, then. _She found herself smiling numbly at nothing, watching this display with some interest. Her limbs seemed uncooperative, not wanting to move, like they had lead weights attached to them, so she couldn't have moved to see if Alan was all right if she tried. So she just watched as, slowly, the figures slowly berated the creature until it was a whimpering mess, spewing dark, murky green goop that must have been blood from the wounds the figures were inflicting with their apparent weapons. The sound of the revving engine came again and again – until she identified the source. One of the figures had what looked to be a very old fashioned lawnmower, and was taking daring runs up and down the creatures bloody, raking at its black, shimmering flesh with the lawnmower.

It was disgusting but also fascinating to watch, Alexis found. The green goop was spilling like acid over the ground, and the creature eventually fell from its wounds, collapsing from exhaustion and its injuries. The flying figures began to land, one by one, but they continued their attacks until one of them – the tallest, a dark-haired man, Alexis was able to make out, leapt high into the air once more, before letting his weapon – a single handed long-reach pruner, shoot out at impossible lengths and plunge into straight into the creatures forehead. One last howling screech, and the downed monster died. A cheer rose from the gathered people and their strange weapons, before they began to break off and head in the general direction of the ruined school building, their weapons at the ready again.

'They're….they're here…' Alan's voice came from somewhere to Alexis' right, and she shifted her gaze away from the monstrous corpse to the fallen young man at her side. He was slowly dragging himself up, and he crawled to her side. 'Are you badly hurt?'

'Uh…' the soft moan was all the escaped Alexis' lips, and even if she'd wanted to say more she couldn't, because another yell cut her off as Alan collapsed back next to her. Alexis struggled to sit up to see where the voice was coming from.

'Alan!' Another male voice was calling desperately. 'Alaaaaan!'

Alan swallowed and took a deep breath before calling back in reply.

'Over here! Eric!' his voice trailed off into a coughing fit, but it had been enough to attract the attention of two of the figures who'd taken down the monster. They came over in huge leaps, covering the distance of grass between in two bounds alone.

'Alan!' an older man wielding a hacksaw was the first to arrive. Alexis saw that he and the other young man who'd come over both wore glasses – just like Alan. The other young man was blonde, looking about the same age as Alan, and the older man also had blonde hair, but it was a darker brown underneath, one side of his head dotted by neat cornrows of darker hair, a goatee framing his masculine chin.

'Alan!' he said again, this time in relief, as he came to a stumbling halt before dropping to his knees and throwing his arms around Alan. Alexis watched as Alan returned the embrace before pulling back.

'Ale-Alexis,' he panted, gripping the older mans blazer. 'She needs…I think she's hurt-'

'Mmm fine,' she mumbled, only to have the other blonde young man kneel next to her, taking her gently by the arm.

'Hey – hey there, take it easy,' he said, his voice a lot calmer than the older mans. 'It's gonna be okay now.' He flashed her a smile that she tried – and failed – to return. 'My names Ronald, miss, and we'll take care of you.'

'Th-thanks…I think…' Alexis murmured, and Alan sent her a tired smile.

'I'm sorry I didn't warn you,' he asked, now more relaxed in the older mans arms. 'I would have – but there was no way…no way to tell how you'd react.'

'React to what?' the older man asked, but Alan just shook his head.

'I'll –uh, I'll explain later, Eric,' he said, and the older man, Eric, shrugged. Alan turned back to Alexis. 'Are you hurt?'

'I don't think so – not badly, anyway,' Alexis said, trying to get her breath back. What came as a real surprise was how calm she felt. Like this wasn't as bad as it could have been. Like everything really was going to be okay, like this Ronald guy next to her said it would be. She felt her eyes droop, and she suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her.

'Hey – hey! Miss!' Ronald was shouting, but Alexis felt herself falling asleep. She must have passed out, because even she knew that no one could ever fall asleep that fast.

_Unless,_ she almost found herself smiling. _Unless, of course, you were dead._


	4. Chapter 4

**.:IV:.**

There wasn't a lot of things that could surprise Eric Kyle Slingby. Most of those things included spiders, death, demons, humans, fire, drowning, and many other common ailments that might hinder a Shinigami in his work. He had, however, experienced several shocks in his lifetime, though he'd only openly admit to two. The first had been, of course, when his best friend and partner Alan had been taken ill by the legendary Thorns of Death exactly a hundred and twenty-three years ago to this day. The second was, more surprisingly, how the demon butler Sebastian, employed by the powerful Underworld Hound, a twelve-year-old boy no less, had allowed the two desperate Shinigami to escape alive.

Which isn't the story that most people know and believe to be true. The story they know is false, as the demon had swallowed his pride and given them their freedom when his young master had caught ill in the chilled night air. The story that people in this day and age know is a twisted version, a version that was created and dramatized for the musical theatres around the world – a version that saw the death of Eric and his beloved friend.

But that was a lie. A fake. Eric often smirked to himself as he remembered the look of distain on the demons face as he let them go, Eric hauling Alan over his shoulder and disappearing into the night. Eric had gone to see the theatrical version, which had entertained him greatly, but he'd sworn to never speak word of it to Alan. Alan had been disgusted to find out that the humans of modern society still found entertainment in tragic stories that ended in the deaths of the main characters. Eric hasn't minded it so much – the actor had a resounding alikeness to him, and the actor playing Alan wasn't all too bad either. Quite the looker.

In any case, Eric and Alan were both still well and truly alive – as alive as a God of Death could possibly be. Alan's illness was cured, for the most part – the elusive thousandth soul had been incredibly difficult to acquire, but Eric had managed, even without Ciel Phantomhive's soul. Eric knew, though, that the Thorns of Death could re-emerge within his friend had any point in time – and he'd had a watchful eye over Alan ever since. But nothing had happened; life had continued as normal – or as normal as could be, anyhow.

It was with this that Eric concluded that after such events, nothing more could surprise him. He found himself able to self-diagnose quite profoundly, and therefore titled himself as fearless. It suited him – it had a nice, full-bodied ring to it. Like a well-tailored jacket, sitting just right on his shoulders. It made him proud.  
However, on this particular wintery December day, he wasn't feeling fearless at all as he strode quickly down the corridors, urgency in his step. There was a nasty rumour spreading throughout the Dispatch. And what was worse – Alan was in the medical wing, being treated for minor wounds after an encounter with a demon without form – at least, that's what everyone was calling it until forensics got back with the autopsy report.

Well – perhaps Alan being treated for wounds wasn't as bad as the rumour, since Alan was alive and seemingly all right apart from a few bruises and lacerations. As much as Eric wanted his friends safety to be more important that his work, he knew it wasn't, because that rumour was fast-spreading and could potentially through the entire Otherworld Society into chaos. Nothing like this had happened before. And no one knew if anything like this would ever happen again.

'Sir.' He reached Will's side at the main gathering area where the reapers collected their to-die tomes and received orders on-mass as an entire group. It wasn't often used for official use – more just a foyer and area for Reapers to gather and relax in the time between their Reapings or when the paperwork behind said Reapings was finished, and was usually a fairly open space that was easily navigated. Now, though, there was confusion and turmoil everywhere, and Eric and Will had the prime view – standing on the balcony overlooking the area as Shinigami swarmed beneath them.

'Slingby?' William's impatient voice cut through Eric's thoughts.

'Sir – I've dispatched the clean-up team in the area of the school, as well as sending out Reapers Knox and Archus to cover the media and reporters trying to get into the area.' Eric reported quickly, running at the mouth as he desperately tried to come up with more reassuring news for his senior. In truth, he had probably been older than Will as a human, but he'd died nearly three hundred years before the older Shinigami, and respectfully looked to him as a mentor and superior.

'Is that all?'

'Yessir.' Eric said, somewhat regretfully.

William sighed in irritation. Eric could see the bead of sweat running down his superior's face. It may have been cold outside and heated inside the Dispatch, but Will's anxiety would get the better of any cold or heat – this case was really worrying him. Eric had only heard snippets of the rumour that was going around, and he wasn't all too sure of what he'd heard, but if there was one place he could get the truth, it was from William.

'Um…sir?'

'Yes, Slingby?' William's voice was strained, almost as if he knew what Eric was going to ask.

'Is there…any truth at all behind these rumours?' Eric asked, a little uncertainly. There was a pause for a moment, and he saw the faintest of slumps in Will's shoulders. With another sigh, William nodded.

'Yes. There was an uncontrolled demon loose at the school.'

Eric chose his words carefully before he went on, not wanting to press Will too far for fear of angering him. 'Uh…Alan said something about it…chasin' him? And the girl…he was with?'

Something tightened inside of Eric has he said those last words – for some reason, they stuck on his tongue like rough sandpaper, with the bitter headiness of pepper. He didn't know why, but he suddenly didn't like the idea of Alan being sent on mysterious missions and being with strange girls and in constant danger. It didn't sit right in his stomach.

Will just nodded.

'And that is correct. He was on an unofficial mission for me, and it was supposed to remain undercover.'

'And why didn't it?' Eric felt a little bit of anger rising up in his chest. Will – voluntarily placing a Shinigami – _Alan_, no less – in danger like that without telling anyone? It didn't seem like him. 'Surely you notified the Head Office?'

'Of _course_ I notified the Head Office, you dolt,' William snapped irritably. 'I explained the situation to them before all hell broke loose and they agreed that it should remain a covert operation from the rest of the Society.'

Eric stepped back and raised his hands in a defensive gesture. It wasn't often William snapped so viciously, with so much venom in his voice, and that came as a minor surprise to Eric. Not that Eric would let that tarnish his record of surprises.

'So what now?' he asked tentatively, and Will shook his head.

'Nearly half the students of the school were killed and many of the teachers and staff in the main building also perished. When the clean-up team is finished collecting the souls and our liaison officer down in Human Affairs is able to release the bodies back to the humans for a much less specific autopsy than ours we'll address the London Branch as a whole. Jefferson from the Public Association's office will leak the story that an unexpected explosion occurred in three of the four main gas pipes under the main school building, thus leading to an explosion and the weakening of the structural integrity of the building, causing it to collapse.'

Eric nodded along as Will spoke. So far, it seemed like everything was under control.

'And the demon?' he asked, and Will nodded curtly.

'It has been taken care off. I've had a team of Reapers disintegrate the body before any humans were able to see it.' He said, and Eric nodded. It wasn't really the demon that had worried him; it was who it had been chasing throughout the school.

'And Alan will be cleared from the medical wing soon?'

'Soon enough,' there was a tinge of irritation in Will's voice, as if he was tiring of Eric's questions, and the blonde Shinigami fell quiet in response.

'Reaper Spears, sir!' a younger Shinigami down below them in the midst of the crowd was calling up to them, and William and Eric peered over the edge of the balcony to look down on him. He had fine features and a short ponytail of greyish-silver hair, and he wore a laboratory coat and carried a clipboard.

'Yes, what is it?'

'Reaper Humphries has woken up – he's insisting on seeing you, sir,' the Shinigami, obviously some sort of doctor, said urgently. 'Please come – we're afraid he may aggravate his wounds before they've had sufficient time to heal.'

William nodded down to the doctor and readjusted his glasses before sweeping past Eric on his way to the stairs down to the medical wing. He only paused long enough to notice Eric's nervous fidgeting behind him. He sighed.

'If you want to come along, Eric, don't let me stop you.' He said curtly, and Eric was nearly tripping over himself to catch up to his superior.

There was a small crowd gathered around the ward where Alan was situated, most of them nurses or doctors trying to restrain Reaper Humphries from moving around and the other a few concerned Reapers who'd stopped by to check on him. Even from the end of the hallway, Eric and Will were able to hear Alan's protestant yells from inside the ward, only to be shouted over the top of by the doctors trying to get him to sit back down.

'Calm down, Humphries, and everyone else, move.' William said firmly as the crowd cluttered in the doorway kept bustling about. When no one seemed to hear him, he sighed irritably and cast a meaningful look at Eric. Eric nodded and stepped forward as Will stepped aside for him.

Putting thumb and forefinger between his teeth, Eric whistled so loudly that the entire medical wing seemed to fall silent and turn in their direction. Eric cleared his throat.

'If no one heard the man, you'd better get hearing aids. We're comin' in, so move your asses, all of you!' he said, glaring at all the nurses and other Reapers who were now almost quivering at the sight of him. Everyone knew that Eric could get violent if he didn't get his way. But only Alan knew that it was only usually after a few too many drinks.

'Eric!' Alan's voice came from somewhere at the other end of the crowd, which shuffled and scattered out of the way as Eric began to wade through them, William following quickly in his wake.

'Alan!' Eric shouldered past the last indignant doctor and reached his friend, taking Alan by the arms and pulling him away from the stubborn doctor's grip. Alan was in one of the medical wings blue hospital dresses, and from what Eric could see of his friends exposed skin, he was pretty bandaged up, and what wasn't bandaged was either bruised or the white-ish palour of Alan's pale skin.

'Reaper Humphries,' William jumped in before either of them could say anymore. 'You wanted to see me?'

'Yes,' Alan said, his voice wavering just a little. Eric could see his friends eyes were lined by exhaustion – even though it had only been a few hours ago that he'd been knocked out. But Alan made his slender frame stand strong as he addressed his superior. 'That girl – is she all right? What's happened to her?'

Eric's ears twitched. Alan was most likely referring to the girl who Alan had been protecting for William, and when he cast his eyes to Will, the Shinigami merely shrugged and readjusted his glasses.

'She is here, being treated for any wounds she may have acquired today. There is no need to worry, Alan, she's completely all right.' Will said matter-of-factly, and although Eric could feel Alan's shoulders slump in relief, he felt Alan tense again as he opened his mouth to speak again.

'B-but – sir…she's not…human…' Alan said between uncertain glances around at the ward, where the crowd of doctors, nurses and other Reapers were curiously peeking over each other and in through the doorway to see what was going on.

William gave Alan a hard look, and Alan fell silent, biting his lip like he was regretting saying something. Eric shot Will a questioning glance when the silence was broken by a weak voice coming from the door, followed by several gasps.

'W-will?' They all turned to see Alexis leaning heavily on the doorway, some of the pads that had been attached to wires still taped to her arms, their wires snapped and forgotten back in her ward, one or two still trailing after her. She too, was in a blue hospital dress, her brown hair falling freely around her face, but nothing could stop anyone from seeing her eyes; which made even Eric inwardly reel with shock.

Now that she was outside the human world, her irises had become a flaring, green of royal fire, and her eyes looked red and raw, as if she'd been rubbing them with balled fists. William was the first to react, and like lightning he had disappeared from Alan and Eric's side and came to a sharp halt in front of Alexis. No one dared speak as they watched.

Alexis herself was quite perplexed by the whole ordeal. She'd woken in a white-washed ward with nurses and doctors rushing past, but no one seemed to have been paying her any attention. She'd found her eyes feeling hot and sore, and had taken to rubbing them in the hope of making them feel better. Then a loud whistle had echoed through the place, and she'd gone to investigate, ripping out the wires from under the pads on her arms and chest that kept her vaguely restrained to the hard hospital bed. She'd come upon the crowded ward door, and some of the people gathered around had seen her and immediately stepped back to let her through. She'd seen Will, and now here she was.

Her brother had a mixed expression on his face; was it happiness to see her okay? Was it anger because he was still upset with her? She couldn't tell, and her surprise only skyrocketed higher when William suddenly took a deep breath, and then wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into the tightest hug she'd ever had. He'd never hugged her like this, like he was truly glad to see her alive.

'I'm sorry,' came a whisper in her ear, and Alexis felt herself relax a little into his embrace. Casting a stray glance around, she saw dumbfounded looks on everyone's faces – and inside the ward itself, she saw Alan and the older blonde man from earlier too, both looked just as dumbfounded as everyone else – whoever they all were, anyway.

'It's…okay, Will,' she said softly, trying to calm the atmosphere a little. Soon, she'd berate him with questions about where she was, what had happened, who all these people were, and what the hell they were all doing here. But that could wait – feeling Will's protective cage of arms and body encircling was a rare feeling, and she found herself rather enjoying it once she got used to it. But she forced herself to pull back. 'I just…'

'Does your head hurt? Your eyes? Where?' Will's concerned eyes were roving over her, and she tried to shrug him off, but he wouldn't let go of her shoulders.

'No – I mean, yes, I've got a headache and my eyes won't stop hurting, but I'm fine – really, Will; I just want to know…what am I doing here? Where is here?' she blurted out unsteadily, and Will took her under the elbow and led her into the ward and up to Alan and the other man. He gave them a meaningful look and they stepped apart for him, and he made her sit down on the hospital bed behind them. Everyone's curious eyes were on both her and William now.

'I'll explain to you later,' he said softly, before raising a hand and clicking his fingers briskly. Hurriedly, one of the doctors who'd been standing nearby gawping snapped back into action, hurrying over to do a quick examination of Alexis. Will stepped back to let him through but stayed close to Alexis' side. She'd never seen him so protective.

'What's going on, Will?' she asked, but Will just shook his head and motioned at the blonde man standing with Alan. The man nodded and turned, seemingly regaining his composition and ushering everyone out of the ward. They were all reluctant to go, and when some of them openly complained, Will flashed a threatening glance their way, and they hurried away, all of them suddenly itching to get out the door. Then, the blonde man turned to Alan.

'Let's get you some clothes, then,' he said tiredly, and Alan nodded, flashing Alexis a small, comforting smile on his way passed her.

'Hi again,' he said softly, and Alexis returned the smile somewhat uncertainly, and then Alan and his older friend disappeared out the doorway, leaving Alexis alone with the doctor and her brother.

Somehow, as her brother turned back to face her, Alexis got the sinking feeling that she wasn't going to like what she was about to hear.

**…**

The assembly area of the Shinigami Dispatch Society had finally quieted down, to an extent, and everyone was gathered in a sea of bodies and Death Scythes, eyes scanning the balcony in wait for Reaper Spears to reappear and give his address, to explain the situation and to help calm more of the clamour. Some whispered among themselves and discussed their opinions quietly as other shouldered through the crowds in the attempt to overheard some of the more outlandish rumours. The girl Reaper Spears had had Alan save was a human girl with whom William had fallen in love. She wasn't a demon, but impossibility also ruled out her being a Shinigami like them. No one had seen a female Shinigami since the Dark Ages, the end of the Medieval era. Old tales said they'd wiped themselves out. But still there was another rumour going around; this girl was somehow connected to Will deeper than the bounds of love. Some thought she was his daughter, others reprimanded them and argued that no one had ever known of Will ever having a lover or wife – could the child be illegitimate, then?

Finally, Alan and Eric reached the assembly area after raiding the Dispatch's locker-room closets for a fresh suit for Alan, and Eric dragged him by the wrist into the depths of the crowd, muttering something about getting a good view. Alan caught the tale-ends of whispers among the other Reapers, but he never quite managed to catch whole sentences, due to Eric's insistent dragging. When his older friend stopped, Alan collided with him, and Eric caught him before he could fall backwards with an apologetic smile.

'Sorry,' Eric said softly as Alan readjusted his blazer.

'It's okay,' he replied, tugging at his sleeve to cover the bandage that was wrapped around his arm. It felt awkward, wearing bandages under his collared white shirt and pressed pants, like he was a mummy in disguise. He didn't have too much time to dwell on it, because Will had suddenly appeared on the balcony above them and everyone else had fallen silent. He and Eric turned their eyes to their superior.

'I know you're all very curious,' William started. 'But you must all rest assured that many of the rumours you've started are mostly false.'

'But kinda amusing,' Eric muttered to Alan, and Alan smirked a little.

'I've been informed that it's only right to tell you the truth,' William continued after a clear of his throat. 'And the truth is that the girl that I had brought here to the Dispatch is in fact my younger sister.'

A collective gasp rippled through the crowd, and Alan blinked in surprise as more whispers suddenly started up again. He hadn't expected that, though he had been wondering how Alexis and Will had known each other. There didn't seem to be any resemblance between them.

'_But._' William called over the mass to hush them. 'We bear no relation by blood. This does not give anyone permission to access her or my Cinematic Records to verify her origin, and if anyone does so they will be immediately and strictly punished. You are to treat her as you would treat any of us.'

A hand raised in the crowd; Alan could see it was one of the new recruits, a young man barely out of his teens, only recently dead and revived. He still wore the newbie glasses, and seemed not to realize that just asking a question was a bold move. William raised his eyebrows.

'Yes?' his tone was no-nonsensical, and the young initiate piped up confidently.

'If she's your sister, then is she a Shinigami?'

Silence was the only warning the boy got. William seemed to bristle with displeasure the words up on the balcony, and there were several Reapers beginning to edge away from the new initiate just in case Will's Death Scythe suddenly went flying his way. But the long-reach pruners stayed upright in Will's hands, although Alan could see his superior's grip tighten with restrain.

'We have…yet to confirm that.' William said slowly, making every syllable careful and deliberate. A small sigh of relief ran around the gathered Shinigami, but Alan had his doubts about Will's words. He'd seen the flaring green in Alexis' eyes, and that was a clear indicator of one thing – her Shinigami side, however deep it may have been buried in her human upbringing, had awakened the moment they'd brought her over into the Shinigami Realm. And the appearance of a female Shinigami was rare, if not almost completely impossible. There was certain merit to the rumours that they'd wiped themselves out at the end of the Dark Ages; Alan remembered from a history lesson back in his training to become a Reaper – he'd done a project on the history of Shinigami, and there had been no record of a female Shinigami since that time. He'd found in his research that legends told of the female Shinigami to be violent, brash creatures who could easily fall prey to greed and hatred. It only made sense that they'd become so envious of each other that they'd simply stop existing. At least, that was the conclusion that Alan had reached. And he'd received an A+ for that project, too.

However the crowd not only seemed to be relieved of this fact about Alexis' identity still being confirmed, but also in the fact that William had not yet done something to punish the loud-mouthed young initiate. William had a few more things to say, about the clean up at the school with all the students and teachers who'd perished in the incident, and how calm would soon be restored to the Dispatch and this would soon settle down. Alan and Eric both knew how important it was to have a calm environment for the new initiate Reapers of the season; a disturbance of order could disrupt the new possible Reapers in their training – break their concentration and even sometimes their own will to continue training. It had happened before a good few years back, during the second World War. The Europe Dispatch Branch had become so under staffed that Alan and Eric had had to work double shifts. The three years following had seen a massive influx of possible Reapers, but regulations had become stricter and fewer were able to pass initiate training, resulting in a much slower process of gaining new Reapers. The years after that had improved, and nowadays Shinigami were plentiful in all the Dispatch Branches throughout the world.

Finally, Will had finished talking and dismissed the Reapers to get back on with their duties and called a meeting with Eric and a few of the other senior Reapers in order to have a talk with the new group of initiates. Eric and Alan both went up to meet Will, but Will ordered Alan back to the infirmary until he was completely healed. Neither Reaper was happy about it, but William was insistent, and so Alan parted from his friend and headed back down to the medical wing on his own.

When he got there, he signed himself back in, was directed to a ward, and picked up a few books from one of the bookshelves in the hallway – he needed something to do to pass the time; he'd be fully in just over a few hours, was the doctors diagnosis. His injuries wouldn't have been quite as bad if he hadn't always had a pretty crap immune system. Alan sighed and let himself flop down onto the uncomfortable hospital beds. He knew he shouldn't complain, but he'd much rather be up and doing things whilst he healed instead of sitting on his butt letting everyone run around without him.

Another thing occurred to him as he lay there, contemplating the different colours of the ceiling paint before gathering the boredom to open one of the books to read. He was situated in the end ward of the medical wing; and everyone other ward had been empty when he'd passed them.

So where had Alexis disappeared to?


	5. Chapter 5

**.:V:.**

Alexis sat, staring, at the man behind the desk opposite her. It almost didn't seem right to call him a "man" as such; he may only have looked just over sixty but William had said this man was nearly as old as time itself. There was this ancient look in the mans greying eyes that were tinged with a dying, milky greenish hue that made Alexis nearly believe that she wasn't actually looking into someone's eyes at all, but a completely different world.

And so she sat, fidgeting, whilst he studied her from behind steepled hands that had large, roughly wrinkled knuckles. She had been told by William not to speak unless this man, this…this ancient god, had spoken to her first, and for the last ten minutes since a deep voice had called her into this spacious, clean office, neither had said a single word. Alexis' headache returned, and she was in desperate need of something else to do, because the bandage on her wrist where she'd sprained it earlier was in serious danger of coming unraveled the more she fiddled with it.

Finally, the man took a very slow, very long deep breath and leant back in the large, cushioned office chair he was seated in. He was still studying Alexis, silently, but now he seemed to want a better perspective of her. She tried to mimic his deep breath, hoping it was help calm her – but all it did was make her want to cough.

'You are the first female Shinigami that I've seen in a very long time,' he said quietly, and the velvet tones to his voice and his sudden speech made Alexis jump just a little. She wasn't sure how to reply to that, and her reflexes only allowed her to swallow. She waited.

'You are quite young to be dead,' the was a sadness in the old Shinigami's voice, and Alexis felt herself blush.

'Uh…permission to, uh, speak, sir?' she managed.

'Permission granted – you need not ask to ask a question.'

'Uhh – oh, um, okay. Er – I'm…not dead…yet…' Alexis trailed off, suddenly struck by the oddest feeling. What if she was dead? What if she had died, just like all the other students back at school, only she'd somehow ended up here instead?

There was a moment of silence, and Alexis wondered if she'd said something wrong. She felt alive enough, but then again, she'd no idea what being dead felt like, either. She'd always assumed that it was a simple transition into…well, nothingness. Her thoughts were interrupted by the strangest sound – like the rumbling of an earthquake and a rockslide, only softer, and then the ancient Shinigami in front of her seemed to rumble with it. It took Alexis a moment to realize that he was _laughing_. Something she had never expected from someone who Will had made sound so…frightening.

'You most certainly aren't, young one,' the old man chortled, and for a moment Alexis was contemplating whether he meant if she was actually alive or not. 'I knew the moment you stepped in here.'

'Sir?'

The ancient man nodded. 'Yes. I've known since the moment you came into this office – before then, in fact. I could sense your presence from the moment you were in this building, Alexis Spears. You're the purest of beings, young one – a purebred Shinigami, a female no less, born not from human blood but from the womb of your own kind. Inconceivable if I didn't see you for myself.'

Alexis swallowed hard. She wondered what else this moving mountain of monumental wisdom knew. Everything seemed a bit of a stretch, but seeing as the past day hadn't exactly been normal, she wouldn't put it past him. There was dark greying hair cropped around the top of his head, and the thick, black-framed glasses perched on his nose looked impeccably clean, as if he polished the lenses every hour. Alexis found herself noticing everything else about him other than his eyes, which held a steady gaze on her, to avoid them. It couldn't be true – she wasn't a God of Death. She'd had no training. No…no death (at least, she hoped not). Something made her feel odd inside; something in the way which the elder Shinigami had called her "pure".

'Alexis?'

Alexis snapped her head – she realized her eyes had fallen to staring at her hands. She hadn't meant to, but she met the old Reaper's eyes.

'Y-yes, sir?'

'Your older brother, William, never told you of his true identity, did he?'

Alexis shook her head. 'No, sir.'

He nodded, considering. 'That was because he was not allowed to tell you. He went to great lengths to be allowed to keep you and raise you into what little family he has.'

'He…did?' Alexis hadn't realized that maybe things that she'd known her entire life were different to what was real. If this…wasn't death…then what was it?

'Indeed. I myself was quite against him hiding you from us at first. And he managed to keep you a secret from the Dispatch for the first two months. When we found out, he had already had you Christened and your name was officially wiped from our registry.'

'Registry, sir?'

'Yes – the Death List.' The old Shinigami said quietly, and he patted a thick book sitting on the otherwise bare desk next to him. It was leather-bound, with several sticky notes and bookmarks protruding from between the old, worn pages. He opened it to the very last page, and pulled it around so Alexis could see the page.

'See here?' he pointed to a blank spot at the bottom of a thousand scribbles of other peoples names with notes all around them. Beside the blank spot was a simple, lonely question mark. 'This is where you were on my own Death List. You were to be the very last soul I reaped before I retired. But you quite suddenly disappeared – you name vanished. And now here you are – how do you think this has happened?'

Alexis swallowed, trying to think up some sort of answer that would sound either smart, or just not stupid. But nothing came to mind. She bit her lip.

'I don't know, sir,' her voice came out as less than a whisper. The old Shinigami sighed softly.

'Because William stepped in,' he said, and from the desk beside him and pulled another thick volume of pages bound in leather. This one had a crossed out name on it, replaced with the handwritten text "ALEXIS SPEARS". Alexis shuffled her chair a little closer to the desk so she could see. He opened the book and once again spun it around to show her. The page he opened to suddenly seemed to explode in reeling bundles of lace and light. It was then that Alexis realized that she'd seen these threads of light before – when she'd put on Will's glasses that morning, she'd seen them reeling from inside his chest.

'Wait…'

'Watch,' he said softly, a small smile cracking over his wizened features.

The light dimmed a little in the office, and it was as if she was looking at an old, black and white film. She saw a hospital, with nurses running around after patients, people lying in beds on drips – new mothers cradling their newborn children. Then, a much younger William than Alexis had ever seen entered through the door into the ward, his long-reach pruners in hand an a large book tucked under his other arm. He walked right up to Alexis, without seeing her, as if he was walking up to the camera. The pruners extended over the top of her, and he said silent words that she couldn't hear before stepping back.

Alexis gulped as she watched another ream of lace and light draining into Will's pruners – they must be a sort of Death Scythe, she realized. Then, he seemed to look straight at her; his eyes watching her for just a moment before he looked over his shoulder, as if to check he wasn't being watched, and then he reached down, bundled up what had to have been a baby version of herself into his arms, turned on his heel and strode out of the hospital ward. Moments later, another Shinigami entered – the man sitting across from her now, looking maybe a week younger, which wasn't saying much – only that Shinigami probably aged very, very slowly. He looked around the ward, checked his own book, and then ducked back out of the ward and disappeared.

The vision vanished, and the Shinigami across from her closed the book gently. Alexis found herself staring numbly at the desk as he took the book back.

'This is how he hid you. He stole you from the hospital where you were meant to meet an end too quickly for someone of your generation. He not only upset the balance between life and death but he drastically altered your life course. He masked your true identity and by the time we'd found out, it was too late.'

'You weren't able to do anything about it?' Alexis asked softly, and the older Shinigami shook his head slowly.

'No – our only option was to either let you live or have you killed,' his voice was a little gruff, and Alexis swallowed. 'We decided that, to show William what a choice he'd make, and the consequences that would follow – we'd allow him to keep you and raise you. It would teach him a lesson, which we thought was only fair; don't you?'

Alexis felt her face flush. So her living was a punishment for Will – to reprimand him for doing a stupid thing. Was saving her life so stupid? The Shinigami seemed to sense her discomfort, and he very slowly stood, raising from his seat in a series of creaks and squeaks from the leather chair he was seated in.

'Come, Alexis. I'll take you back to your brother – it's time for his shift to end and I believe you'll be happy to be getting home.' He said, and Alexis startled to her feet and followed him to the glass doors. They slid open to let him through, and she shuffled through after him. As they walked, he began to speak again.

'There's something I'd like to ask of you, Alexis.'

'Yes, sir?' she had to trot a little to keep him – the man might have been ancient, but he had a long stride.

'It's a known fact that there are no longer any female Shinigami in the world – until you, of course,' he seemed to have suddenly forgotten about what he wanted to ask her, but Alexis didn't comment and just followed him. On the way to his office, William had told her that she was to treat this man with the utmost respect; he was one of the oldest Shinigami left in existence and wiser than any of the worlds human genius' put together.

'Uh…why is that?' she dared to ask.

'Because,' he said as they walked along a long, glass walkway that overlooked a busy work office, with men in black suits hurrying around and a few women workers skirting between them; looking like receptionists more than workers. Alexis guessed that they weren't Shinigami. 'The sad story goes as such – once, both genders of Shinigami were able to work peace, keeping the balance of life and death stable. But females had shown themselves time and time again to be vain creatures how can give in to greed and their desires, leading them on the path to destruction. The females of our race were no different – in the end, they wiped themselves out trying to be the superior race. But that isn't our place in life.'

Alexis tried to take it in as she observed her surroundings – she spotted the blonde, masculine man, Alan's friend, arguing with another couple of younger Reapers a little way off, before clipping one across the back of the head and sending them on their way. He distractedly check his watch and scratched at his darker cornrows of hair before disappearing down a hallway. She tried not to wonder if Alan was all right and tried harder to concentrate on what was being said.

'…Male Shinigami have ruled ever since,' the Shinigami's deep voice droned. 'We are able to maintain the balance by a very strict set of regulations. The new initiates of this year will learn these rules, and will live by them should they pass their training.'

Alexis looked over the side of the railing of the walkway they were on, suspended above the rest of the Dispatch offices, and saw they'd entered a gymnasiam-styled area, with mats and weights and body-building machines and treadmills lined up and distributed throughout the open area. There was Reapers in here, too – some were working out and there was another senior Shinigami who was obviously giving a tour to a crowd of new initiates; all of whom were looking around in awe and amazement at the facilities.

'Those are the initiates?' she asked, pausing, and the older Shinigami nodded without stopping.

'Yes – they'll have four weeks to complete their initiation training. After that, they'll be set an examination to prove their worth and competence as Shinigami.' He said, and Alexis tore her eyes away from the facility below her and had to run to catch up with him – he was now standing by an elevator set into the wall at the end of the walkway. Once in the elevator, a single button was pressed and they began to descend.

'What happens…if they don't pass the examination?' Alexis asked quietly, and the old Shinigami considered for a moment.

'It depends on how much they failed the examination by,' he said thoughtfully. 'I don't believe we've ever had to outcast anyone since the very early thirteenth century – usually they're weighed on how well they did on their training and how well they did in the examination – if they did better in training, they may be able to scrape a pass, but have to undergo extra training before being granted the title of Reaper. If they fail both training and examination, often they're turned away from the Dispatch Society here and given the opportunity to try at another one somewhere else in the world. Often we get Reapers who have failed from here go on to other Dispatch Society's in the world, and then they visit sometime later and are welcomed friends and associates.'

Alexis blinked. 'So there's no real penalty.'

'Correct.' The elevator pulled to a stop, and two Reapers stepped in with them, nodding in respect to the old Shinigami. He smiled back to them, and the elevator continued on it's way.

'So…there are other places in the world just like this?' she ventured, knowing that she had both sets of eyes of the other Reapers on her every so often. She tried her best not to notice.

'Of course. Some are differently structured; but the laws and regulations of the Dispatch are firmly place in every country in the world that is home to a Dispatch Society, no matter what the language. There are five main Society's in the world, all with smaller sub-branches. For example, this is the London Branch, and it connects to the United Kingdom Branch, which in turn is connected directly to the European Dispatch Society.' The old Shinigami explained, and Alexis couldn't help but think that death truly did have a grip on the world – every Dispatch Society was like a finger that linked back to the hand; the major Society of whichever country it was situated in.

Her thoughts were brought to a halt as the elevator, too, slid to a smooth stop at the bottom floor and the doors swished open to let the four of them out. She and the older Shinigami stood back to let the younger Reapers through first, who bowed and murmured their thanks before disappearing out the door and into the entry foyer.

Which, as Alexis saw, was massive. A grand old structure at had clearly been around for centuries, but had been modernized and remodelled in certain places to give it a more professional, modern touch. Large glass windows had the last of daylight streaming through them, casting shadows and patterns of colours over the polished tile floors. As they stepped out, Alexis saw that there were more Reapers down here, some of them carrying the gardening tools that Alexis had seen earlier, others carrying files and books and some carrying both. One, however, stood directly in front of them, his glasses readjusted by a black-gloved hand, his glossy black hair slightly ruffled from a long day's work.

'Will!' Alexis rushed to him, and he caught her and pulled her close into another one of those hugs that she'd never really had from him before. His movements were slightly stiff, as if he too was unused to showing such affection, but Alexis wrapped her arms around him and hugged him nonetheless, breathing in the heady scent that was her brother, his aftershave, and that one other scent that she'd never been able to identify until now – the smell of death, clean and filed away with the touch of a professional.

'Reaper Spears,' the old Shinigami said behind them, and William let her go and she stepped back so that Will could step forward. Her brother bowed deeply.

'Sir,' he said, still stooped in the bow. 'Thank you for looking after her.'

'It was a pleasure of mine, William – she's grown into a fine young woman,' the old Reaper said approvingly, and Alexis felt a small blush tint her cheeks. Will straightened. 'I see you've raised her well.'

'As well as I could, sir.' Will said, a little stiffly. Alexis looked up to him, but his eyes were sheilded by the reflection of light from his glasses, his lips pursed in a straight line. 'If that is all, sir, I'll take her home.'

'Indeed – and rest tonight, both of you. You'll have no overtime for this, William – you were merely doing what you felt was right in the constraints of your job.'

Alexis blinked, realizing that this was obviously a more private conversation between William and his senior.

'Yes sir. Hernadez wished to see me suspended due to obuse of authority,' William said, a frown slashing his brow momentarily. The old Shinigami just laughed.

'That Hernandez. He'll do anything to see your record tarnished,' he chuckled, but Will didn't seem to see any humour in it. Alexis swallowed and bit her lip. She was almost certain that this Hernandez person was the man Will often grumbled about over the phone whenever he thought she wasn't listening. She'd heard about him for years – ever since she was little. Her train of thought derailed as the old Shinigami's voice interrupted again. 'However, you did nothing that was out of the ordinary. Your order for Humphries was understandable; it just didn't quite turn out the way you'd expected.'

Will nodded, and looked down at Alexis. She found one of his hands on her shoulder, and a hint of a smile on her older brother's face. 'Indeed,' he said quietly. 'Nothing seems to go as expected these days.'

The older Shinigami chuckled again and they were about to excuse themselves when Alexis remembered something.

'Uh – sir?' she asked, and he looked up to her, his pale green eyes catching hers.

'Yes?'

'What was it that you wanted to ask of me?'

He smiled. 'Ah – I was waiting for you to remember. I'm curious to whether or not you'd be interested in joining the initiates of this year and becoming a Reaper yourself. After all – power unrestrained can be power used dangerously. I'm offering you this chance because you really haven't got much else to go back to know that you know the truth, wouldn't you say? Going back to school and an ordinary school life would be beyond boringly plain.'

His words startled her. She would have the opportunity to…to become the very first female trained Shinigami – a fully fledged Reaper – that anyone had seen in a long time. Will seemed startled, too, as if he had expected it, but hadn't quite wanted the possibility to be true. Alexis wanted, more than anything, she realized, to prove to Will that she could be different to what the legends had said.

'I'll do it.' She said, and the old Shinigami smiled.

'I was hoping you'd say that.'


End file.
